Ya. I heard the rumors. I just find it ridiculous that the Flames discard/firing may be the Oilers backup plan for next year.

Then for the rest of the year we can all watch why the Flames fired him.

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He was fired as a head coach, one who had the Flames over achieving. I for one want an ex head coach as an assistant. Someone who can see the game at that different level and understands what a head coach might be over looking.

Taking everything into account Gultzan seems like a decent pick to meet that criteria.

I am hedging my bet on TMac getting the boot at about the 20 - 30 game mark next season if there isn't serious improvement.

My reasoning is that I believe Chia has him on a short leash, but doesn't want to show potential replacements that a bad season will end your tenure in Edmonton. TMac will start next year, but if the season is mirroring 2017-2018, we will see an interim coach at the 1/3 mark, and a full replacement in the off season.

TMac does some good things with player development and team bonding, but I cannot get on board with his deployment or systems. I feel JP has been severely mismanaged. You cannot put a steed with donkeys and expect it to develop into anything but a better looking donkey. His systems seem really outdated as well. Our team is trying to deploy decade old tactics while the rest of the NHL has evolved.

I could be argued, however, that these are problems with personnel rather than deployment and coaching. Im looking at you Chia.

I am hedging my bet on TMac getting the boot at about the 20 - 30 game mark next season if there isn't serious improvement.

My reasoning is that I believe Chia has him on a short leash, but doesn't want to show potential replacements that a bad season will end your tenure in Edmonton. TMac will start next year, but if the season is mirroring 2017-2018, we will see an interim coach at the 1/3 mark, and a full replacement in the off season.

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I agree with the short leash part. Not sure if I agree with the part in bold.

It's pretty fair to make the argument that McLellan has had two bad seasons with the team.

Regardless, 3+ years is a pretty long tenure with the team. This was an odd season. As of the Christmas break there was no clear reason to fire McLellan. Despite the horrible start the team was still in the playoff hunt at that point. I'm not sure at what point would have been reasonable to fire McLellan last season. After the 3-7-1 start, maybe? The team was Bettman .500 after that point.

I agree with the short leash part. Not sure if I agree with the part in bold.

It's pretty fair to make the argument that McLellan has had two bad seasons with the team.

Regardless, 3+ years is a pretty long tenure with the team. This was an odd season. As of the Christmas break there was no clear reason to fire McLellan. Despite the horrible start the team was still in the playoff hunt at that point. I'm not sure at what point would have been reasonable to fire McLellan last season. After the 3-7-1 start, maybe? The team was Bettman .500 after that point.

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Definitely reasonable points. I agree that season 1 was bad, season 2 was awesome, and season 3 was bad. I say one bad season because I personally feel a coach deserves some understanding the first year while learning the players, and while the players are learning the new coach and new systems.

I do still feel you give a coach the opportunity to prove that a bad year after an awesome year was the anomaly, and not the other way around. If the coach proves the awesome year was the anomaly, then you fire him.

People call him a good coach, but I just don't see what he's really good at, especially during game-time. In my viewings, he seems to rarely 'out coach' the opposition.

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He seems to be a pretty decent teacher, and he runs a good system for the team to play overall. Those are his main strengths, I think. He's made pretty impressive strides in giving the team an actual structure, especially defensively, and I like the team's focus on the rush. But his line construction and ability to adapt seem to be non-existent.

Remenda's head is so far up the ass of anyone who worked for the Sharks.

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He said everything in that interview that Oiler fans had them hating him in the 1st place, he said when he was in San Jose he broke down the game like a coach which was a big no no to well informed Oiler fans with many of them with more hockey knowledge than Remada , he treated Oiler fans like they were uniformed fans who knew little about the game. And it seems like Oilers organization and Sportsnet came down on him talking down to fans , it explains his change in attitude this past season.

For years Remenda repeatedly talked about the Sharks and then talked about the Oiler coaching staff and the job they did in San Jose. If he went back to commentating Sharks games and talked about McDavid and Draisaitl every game I am sure Shark fans would start to dislike him.

I'm sure he is friends with Woodcroft and Johnson or at least likes them very much so defending them is understandable to an extent. The on ice results were unacceptable.

Everything about that article bugged me. He basically tries to make it sound like "I'm a coach and I know more than these fans who don't like me explaining the game of hockey to them."

That isn't why everyone hates you, Drew. I found most of his "analysis" very superficial and didn't add much to the broadcast. The constant references to the Sharks and "big Joe" were totally unnecessary. Never ever ever blaming the coaching staff because they are his best buddies also irritated me. How he can possibly say about Woodcroft that: " there’s not a better gentleman, a smarter hockey guy on the planet". Give me a break.

Also, I appreciated the shot to Edmonton about the weather. Just super classy all the way around.

What I found interesting was he made a point of emphasizing that he works for Sportsnet and not the Oilers. I took that as another shot at Oiler fans in the sense that he doesn’t have to like the team or even have to pretend he likes them. He can criticize them on the home broadcast and too bad for them if they don’t like it.

I remember when Ferraro did our games. He too was critical of the oilers, and there was a lot to be critical about in those days. But he came across as very competent, fair and unbiased. Even when he was blasting the team he was interesting to listen to.

My issue isn’t really him being critical. At least not when it’s warranted. I don’t want announcers trying to blow smoke up my ass when the team is bad. My problem was how negative he was about the team and the players during their 103 point season. His tone towards them doesn’t change whether they’re playing well or poorly. He hates the team. We get enough of that from all the other Sportsnet announcers during national games. It would be nice not to hear it on our home broadcast.

Interesting article. I agree I think hes a bit too negative. I think the problem with Remenda though for me is that when the Oilers make good plays, hes rarely positive about it. Its negative or nothing with him. I thought he was a bit better this year, but being more negative would of probably made more sense this year. I just prefer Debrusk, he seems more honest to me. He positive when he needs to be positive and when things arent going well, he points it out but hes not a dick about it.

Some of the information in the article is just bleh though. Hes too loyal to TM and the staff. On what planet did the assistant coaches deserve to keep their job? The way he talks up Woodcroft is something else. The PP was completely awful this year and the changes (or lack of changes) was abyssmal. Hopefully Woodcoft has a positive impact on Bakersfield.

He seems to hint that theres a lot of problems in the organization though. Even though I dont particularly like Remenda, its nice to hear someone express an opinion.

We can take from the article that Yawney is coming here. I think thats a good move. Gulutzan I am not sure about. I personally think hes a bit redundant. I would rather see more of an offensive, creative coach running the PP.

He's not necessarily wrong about the things he says about how PBP guys are "recommended" by their Sportsnet paymaster to accentuate the positive, but it should be noted that all the Sportsnet broadcasts are like this. It's not specifically an Oilers thing.

It's also laid bare, if it weren't blatantly obvious already, that he would quite literally jump on a grenade for TM and Woodcroft. If those two ever perished in a plane crash or whatever, Remenda would be the one giving the tearful eulogy. It's also fairly plain that he's no big fan of the Oilers organization in general, and their fans in particular...he knows he's not popular with them, and he really couldn't care less.

I have to wonder if Sportsnet is going to be a bit miffed with Remenda after this off the cuff interview he did with his SJ homeboys. It's not exactly flattering on either Sportsnet or the team they have a partnership with.

My issue isn’t really him being critical. At least not when it’s warranted. I don’t want announcers trying to blow smoke up my ass when the team is bad. My problem was how negative he was about the team and the players during their 103 point season. His tone towards them doesn’t change whether they’re playing well or poorly. He hates the team. We get enough of that from all the other Sportsnet announcers during national games. It would be nice not to hear it on our home broadcast.

Everything about that article bugged me. He basically tries to make it sound like "I'm a coach and I know more than these fans who don't like me explaining the game of hockey to them."

That isn't why everyone hates you, Drew. I found most of his "analysis" very superficial and didn't add much to the broadcast. The constant references to the Sharks and "big Joe" were totally unnecessary. Never ever ever blaming the coaching staff because they are his best buddies also irritated me. How he can possibly say about Woodcroft that: " there’s not a better gentleman, a smarter hockey guy on the planet". Give me a break.

Also, I appreciated the shot to Edmonton about the weather. Just super classy all the way around.

E5: Remenda back to the Sharks for a used jock strap.

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These two posts sum up my feelings on the matter perfectly. We don't hate you because you're 'not nice', Drew. We hate you because you're not nearly as smart as you think you are, you focus on the weirdest, dumbest plays to highlight, you don't like the team at all and don't hide that bias in the smallest way, and your criticism is almost always clearly wrong. You call out McDavid for 'over-skating the puck' right before he scores, you say Draisaitl isn't engaged in the play AS HE'S HITTING PEOPLE, and you go on and on about how good the opposing defence are at shutting us down AS WE'RE SKATING CIRCLES AROUND THEM FOR SHOTS ON NET.

**** off Drew. You're a bad broadcaster. Go back to San Jose if you miss it so much.